Trevor Rogers’ breakout year with Marlins ends in runner-up finish in Rookie of Year voting
As the first half of his first full MLB season progressed and he put together strong start after strong start, the thought crossed Trevor Rogers’ mind.
There’s a chance — a very good one at that — that he could be the National League’s Rookie of the Year, which would make him just the fifth Marlins player to do so.
A couple rough patches in the second half of the season — a missed start due to a back injury and then a month away from the team while dealing with family medial issues — hampered the end goal but didn’t fully take away from Rogers’ breakout season, one that has him cemented as a fixture at the top of the Marlins’ rotation alongside Sandy Alcantara.
Rogers had to settle for runner-up honors for Rookie of the Year. Cincinnati Reds second baseman Jonathan India, a Coral Springs native and former University of Florida standout, won the award, which is voted on by members of the Baseball Writers Association of America and announced Monday evening. The St. Louis Cardinals’ Dylan Carlson finished third.
Rogers received one of 30 first-place votes, 26 second-place votes and three third-place votes.
Despite not winning the award, Rogers looks back on the 2021 season as a successful one.
The 24-year-old left-handed pitcher started 25 games. His 2.64 ERA was the best among qualified MLB rookie pitchers and he led National League rookies in innings pitched (133), batting average against (.218), walks and hits per inning pitched (1.15), total strikeouts (157) and strikeouts per nine inning (10.62).
“Just a great year,” Rogers said.
Since the mound was lowered in 1969, only six other rookie pitchers matched Rogers’ strikeout and innings pitched total while recording as low of an ERA: Jose Fernandez (2013), Hideo Nomo (1995), Mark Eichhorn (1986), Dwight Gooden (1984), Fernando Valenzuela (1981), and Jon Matlack (1972). Prior to Rogers’ runner-up finish, Eichorn was the only pitcher in that group who did not win Rookie of the Year in his respective leagues in those seasons.
After shaking off a rough season debut — one in which he walked four batters and gave up three runs in four innings against the Cardinals on April 5 — Rogers dominated to start the season.
He was MLB’s NL Rookie of the Month for both April and May and was the Marlins’ All-Star Game representative. Pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre Jr. called him a “man on a mission.” Manager Don Mattingly gushed at the rookie’s consistency, his ability to take the ball every five days and give a struggling team a chance to win.
“When you get guys that consistently go out there and give you good outings every time, it doesn’t matter if they’re old or young, it’s impressive,” Mattingly said earlier this season. “For him being in his first year, first full season, it’s impressive.”
But Rogers hit a few speed bumps on the back half of the season.
The first was physical, going on the injured list with a lower muscle back spasm on July 24 and missing a start.
The second was personal. He didn’t make a big-league start the entire month of August, during which time he shuffled through MLB’s family medical emergency, bereavement and restricted lists. In that span, both of his parents tested positive for COVID-19 with his mom being hospitalized and placed on a ventilator (she recovered and is still going through physical therapy). Both of his grandfathers died in that timeframe as well.
Rogers made five starts in September, pitching to a 3.52 ERA with 28 strikeouts against six walks in that span.
“I told my mom I was gonna compete for her,” Rogers said upon his return on Sept. 4. “She’s been fighting. She fought well and hard and she made it so I told her ‘You wouldn’t want me to quit just like you didn’t quit,’ so I came back here with that on my mind and that I was gonna pitch for her and both my grandparents. Hopefully I did them proud.”
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